Section 33(1) in Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016
(1)The Academic Council shall have the following powers and duties, namely:-(a)to ensure that the university becomes a vibrant hub for promotion of research and development, interactions and linkages with industries, cultivation of intellectual property rights and entrepreneurship and incubation of knowledge linked industries;(b)to consider and approve with modifications, if any, the matters referred to it by the Board of Studies through the faculty;(c)to ensure that there are choice based credit systems for all certificates diplomas, degrees, post-graduate programmes and other academic distinctions;(d)to ensure that the spirit of research and entrepreneurship percolates to all colleges and recognized institutions of the university;(e)to approve fees, other fees and charges as recommended by the Board of Deans through the fee fixation committee;(f)to recommend to the Management Council, the institution of degrees, diplomas, certificates and other academic distinctions;(g)to propose draft of Ordinances relating to the academic matter to the Management Council;(h)to make amend or repeal Ordinances and Regulations relating to academic matters;(i)to allocate subjects to the faculties;(j)to prescribe qualifications and norms for appointment of paper-setters, examiners, moderators and others, concerned with the conduct of examinations and evaluation;(k)to consider and make recommendations to the Management Council for creation of posts of university teachers and non-vacation academic staff, required by the university from the funds of the university and from the funds received from other funding agencies and prescribe their qualifications, experience and pay-scales;(l)to prescribe norms for recognition of any member of the staff of an affiliated college or recognized institution as a teacher of the university, in consonance with the norms of the University Grants Commission and the State Government;(m)to prescribe norms for granting affiliation, continuation of affiliation, extension of affiliation to colleges, and recognition, continuation of recognition, extension of recognition to institutions of higher learning and research or specialized studies;(n)To grant affiliation to colleges or institutions in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations;(o)to accord recognition to various certificate, diploma, advanced diploma and degrees programmes run by private skills education providers and empowered autonomous skills development colleges, in consonance with the norms of the University Grants Commission and the State Government;(p)to recommend to the senate the comprehensive perspective plan as prepared by the Board of Deans and recommended by the Management Council;(q)to approve annual plan for the location of colleges and institutions of higher learning, as prepared by the Board of Deans and recommended by the Management Council;(r)to recommend to the Management Council conferment of autonomous status on institutions, departments, affiliated or conducted colleges and recognized institutions in accordance with the provisions of the Statutes;(s)to approve new courses, inter-disciplinary courses and short-term training programmes referred to it by the Board of Deans;(t)to approve the course syllabi, paper-setters, examiners and moderators paper-setters, and evaluation schemes of various courses recommended by the faculty concerned;(u)to advise the university on all academic matters and submit to the Management Council feasibility reports on academic programmes recommended by the Senate at its previous annual meeting;(v)to create policy, procedure and practice for choice based credit system for all academic programmes;(w)to create policy for mobility of students among various universities of the State and also lay down the policy for giving flexibility to choose and learn different course modules among different faculties in a university or other universities in the State;(x)to work out the procedures, policies and practices to introduce more flexible approach to education and of 'adaptive pace of learning' with minimum and maximum duration for completion of a degree and other academic programmes;(y)to ensure that the research projects are an integral part of choice based modules for post-graduate programmes;(z)to prepare academic calendar of the university for the subsequent academic year as per the guidelines from the University Grants Commission and the State Government, three months before the expiry of the current academic year;(za)to recommend to the Management Council establishment of departments, colleges, schools, centres, institutions of higher learning, research and specialized studies;(zb)to exercise such other powers and perform such other duties as may be conferred or imposed on it by or under this Act, the Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations.
